Paralympic dressage hopeful who lost leg after motorbike crash and almost died from injury inspires with gold body paint

A single mother who had her leg amputated at the age of 21 after a motorcycle accident left her fighting for her life is now a Paralympic dressage hopeful and social media model hoping to encourage those with disabilities they can have “a second life more beautiful than before”.

Flore Espina, 37, had moved to Spain from her home country of Switzerland and was only a month away from starting her studies to become a vet when she was knocked off her motorbike and suffered an open fracture to her left leg.

But it took a week for her to receive the proper surgery, by which time her wound had become infected, leaving doctors with no choice but to amputate – but even then Flore’s chances of survival were slim given some of her vital organs had been affected.

After months in hospital and a year on crutches, the lifelong horse rider got back in the saddle to become a dressage champion for her home country and is hoping to secure a place at the Paris Paralympics in 2024.

A single mother to her nine-year-old son Noah, Flore now believes the life-changing accident has been a “force for good” and she now wishes to inspire others to see past their physical disability.

To do this, Flore has launched a social media campaign where she paints her body in black and gold to reflect the Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, where gold powder is used to rebuild broken objects and make them more beautiful than they were.

Flore, who lives in El Palmar, Cadiz, in southern Spain, said: “The concept of Kintsugi totally represents what we are trying to say, that it’s not because something is broken that we should throw it away.

“We can give it a second life and make it even more beautiful than before.”

Flore’s world changed in August 2006 when she was knocked off her motorbike at a roundabout and rushed to hospital with an open leg fracture.

“It wasn’t very serious but when I went for a checkup eight days later my wound had become infected and the bacteria had spread throughout my body, so they had to amputate my leg,” she said.

“The first month, they really were not sure whether I was going to survive because some of my internal organs had been infected.”

Flore spent around three months in hospital being cared for by her mother Ivana, now 66, who was forced to give up her insurance job back in Switzerland to care for her.

“My mum came and slept on a chair at the hospital for three months,” said Flore.

“In the first month I was taken into the operating room 21 times.

“She was forced to give up her job which was really difficult. It was a double blow.”

After the accident, she was in crutches for a year because her leg was still broken and could not support a prosthesis, although this did not stop Flore from getting back on a horse.

“The problem is to get on a horse you have to put your left leg in the stirrup, but I didn’t have a left leg. So I had to use a chair, which made it a pretty epic affair,” said Flore.

After making a full recovery, Flore returned to the stables where she had first learned how to ride at just five-years-old and began competing.

“My passion for horses started here in Spain at Ace Buthal and then 20 years later I ended up coming back by coincidence,” she said.

While Flore has now come to terms with what happened, the path to recovery was not always easy.

“I think one of the hardest things for me was re-learning how to walk at the age of 21, because I was very weak to start with,” said Flore.

“Then there is the mental aspect because our society is very focused on physical appearance and people are always looking at you and asking questions.”

Despite these challenges, Flore has bounced back from the accident and now lives life to the fullest.

“I really said to myself, I need to take advantage of this because life is short,” she said.

“It’s now or never, you have to move forward and do all of things you want to do in life.”

Flore is now hoping to inspire others with physical disabilities and works with a number of associations and the prothesis brand Ossur to change the way society views physical disabilities.

She recently launched a campaign with the help of her makeup artist and photographer friends Carmen Carmona and Lucia Cruzado, based on the old Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, which dates back to the 15th century and involves repairing broken pots with ‘golden glue’.

“It took four hours to do all of the makeup and it was really cold,” Flore said.

“I want to show people that you can continue to have a life and do the sports you love because people with physical disabilities often stay home and hide themselves.

“Young people often contact me to say that my story has helped them realise that it’s not the end of the world.”

Flore is now looking to secure a spot at the Paralympics in Paris next year, although she will have to enter as an individual as Switzerland does not have a national Paralympic dressage team.

Balancing being a mum to her son Noah who is turning 10 in two weeks and an intense training schedule is another very real challenge for Flore who sometimes has to travel thousands of miles to compete in international dressage competitions.

“There aren’t many international competitions in Europe and they are normally quite far away,” she said.

“The next one is in Belgium next month, but that’s more than 1,200 miles away so my mum is coming to take care of my son Noah.

“He sometimes comes with me but he’s not a big fan of horses and prefers football.

“It’s not always easy balancing being a single mum and international competitions.”

She will also be competing in dressage competitions in Spain and Italy later this year and depending on her scores, could be headed to Paris in 2024.

Competing at this level also requires a considerable amount of funding and Flore is constantly having to look for sponsors.

Para dressage riders are classified within five disability grades to ensure the competition is fair.

Flore has been given a grade five classification which means she competes in the least severe level of disability category.

“There are only 15 individual places for the Paralympics, so the competition is fierce,” Flore added.

To find out more about Flore, visit her Instagram page at www.instagram.com/floreespinaparadressage.